{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,13]],"date-time":"2026-03-13T11:00:29Z","timestamp":1773399629476,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":19,"publisher":"CSIRO Publishing","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,20]],"date-time":"2025-11-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1763596800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,10]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objectives<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>In March 2020, Australia experienced its first large COVID-19 outbreak in a healthcare setting when two persons who had returned from cruise ship travel were admitted to a hospital in North West Tasmania, leading to sustained severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission among healthcare workers (HCWs) in this hospital and another hospital co-located in the same health precinct. We examined factors influencing SARS-CoV-2 transmission in these hospitals to inform policies and practices that could reduce the risk of future outbreaks.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Using the results of a survey and SARS-CoV-2 testing of HCWs who attended work at one or both hospitals during the exposure period (20 March to 13 April 2020), we assessed the association of demographic variables, work-related variables, and the average score for each of three infection prevention and control (IPC) measures (hand hygiene, personal protective equipment [PPE] donning and doffing, and personal distancing) with being a COVID-19 case using logistic regression.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Of the 1779 HCWs invited to participate in the survey, 410 responded, of which 125 met the inclusion criteria for our analysis. On multivariable regression analysis, HCWs who were aged 31\u201350 years (odds ratio [OR] = 0.12 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.03, 0.48]) or 51+ years (OR = 0.17 [95% CI: 0.04, 0.68]) had significantly lower odds of being a COVID-19 case when compared with HCWs who were aged 30 years or less, whereas those who worked part time (OR = 0.29 [95% CI: 0.08, 0.91]) had significantly lower odds of being a COVID-19 case when compared with HCWs who worked full time. HCWs having direct care of a COVID-19-positive patient (OR\u00a0=\u00a05.42 [95% CI: 1.65, 20.8]) had significantly higher odds of being a COVID-19 case when compared with HCWs without direct care of a COVID-19-positive patient. The IPC measures showed no significant association with COVID-19 case status.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Our study identified important associations between COVID-19 acquisition and age, work frequency, and direct contact with COVID-19 patients. However, the small sample size of IPC measures meant our study was inadequately powered to determine the significance of these associations with COVID-19 acquisition.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1071\/pu24030","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,20]],"date-time":"2025-11-20T23:30:04Z","timestamp":1763681404000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Examination of factors affecting SARS-CoV-2 transmission among healthcare workers following a large healthcare-associated outbreak of COVID-19 in North West Tasmania"],"prefix":"10.1071","volume":"35","author":[{"given":"Meru","family":"Sheel","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"ASydney Infectious Diseases Institute, Sydney School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, the University of Sydney, NSW, Australia."},{"name":"BNational Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Amish","family":"Talwar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"BNational Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kylie J.","family":"Smith","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CPublic Health Services, Department of Health, Hobart, Tas, Australia."},{"name":"DMenzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Nicola","family":"Stephens","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CPublic Health Services, Department of Health, Hobart, Tas, Australia."},{"name":"ETasmanian School of Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Frances","family":"Sheehan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"FInfection Prevention and Control Unit, Canberra Health Services, ACT, Australia."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Louise","family":"Causer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"GThe Kirby Institute, UNSW, Sydney, Australia."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Tara","family":"Anderson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"HTasmanian Health Service, Department of Health, Hobart, Australia."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Louise","family":"Parry","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"HTasmanian Health Service, Department of Health, Hobart, Australia."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Laura J.","family":"Edwards","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CPublic Health Services, Department of Health, Hobart, Tas, Australia."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Martyn D.","family":"Kirk","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"BNational Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Fay H.","family":"Johnston","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CPublic Health Services, Department of Health, Hobart, Tas, Australia."},{"name":"DMenzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"67","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026011122115003700_R1"},{"issue":"1","key":"2026011122115003700_R2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/s13756-020-00875-7","article-title":"Nosocomial transmission and outbreaks of coronavirus disease 2019: the need to protect both 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